Recap: Carolina vs. Florida

Raleigh, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Alexander Semin scored twice in the third period to guide the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers.

Riley Nash had the other tally for Carolina, while Anton Khudobin made 37 saves. The Hurricanes snapped a two-game skid in which they were blanked by Columbus and Calgary.

"He was sharp again today and made the game look easy," Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said of Khudobin. "He made some really huge saves."

Marcel Goc and Dmitry Kulikov had the goals for the Panthers, who have lost back-to-back contests. Tim Thomas made 36 stops.

"We made mistakes that were preventable," Thomas said. "That's what's frustrating to me right now."

Semin scored off an offensive zone faceoff 2:31 into the third to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. Eric Staal won the draw and Semin's shot from the left circle went into the upper right corner of the net.

It became 3-1 at 8:57 on a short-handed tally. Nathan Gerbe was in the penalty box for high-sticking, but Staal's outlet pass put Semin on a breakaway. Semin went to the forehand to squeeze the puck by Thomas.

Kulikov scored with 5:39 left in regulation on a blast from well above the left circle.

Florida pulled Thomas in the final minute, but couldn't generate a decent scoring chance.

Nash notched his fifth goal of the season 3:37 into the second period on a rebound, but Goc put in the equalizer at 15:05 from in front off a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau.

Game Notes

Carolina leads the NHL with nine short-handed goals ... Since moving into PNC
Arena at the start of the 1999-00 season, Carolina owns a 29-7-4 home record
against Florida ... Florida was 0-for-5 on the power play, while Carolina was
0-for-2.